Last Updated on November 24, 2025 3:52 pm by Aaron Bruski | Published: November 24, 2025

We are 20% of the way through the season and as usual here are my Bruski 150 Waiver Wire plays for Week 5. I grab these plays from a variety of sources including my high stakes leagues.

Anyway, without further ado let’s start digging out some diamonds

Outside of the paywall, here are FIVE PLAYERS from my TOP TEN WAIVER WIRE pickups from 200 player high stakes leagues (8-cat Roto), and then NBA FantasyPass subscribers get the rest (37 TOTAL PLAYS)

*Waiver Wire Rank in Parenthesis

Derik Queen

C, New Orleans Pelicans

(1) I watched all of the Derik Queen film from over the weekend and while it’s very simple to just say go add the guy I think for context the question is whether he will be a top 50 player the rest of the way or a top 100 player the rest of the way.

Queen put up a pair of top 35-50 games over the weekend in a situation where he was picking apart a bad team making some pretty egregious mistakes in the Dallas Mavericks and then on the back to back he got the Dyson Daniels treatment but it didn’t matter on the numbers side. He averaged 32 minutes, 20 points, zero triples, eight rebounds, seven assists, two combined defensive stats, 45% shooting from the field on 15.5 attempts and 92.3% from the foul line on 6.5 attempts with three turnovers.

It’s been like this the last week and in the two weeks prior it was more or less top 75 value in 28 MPG. He shot 76.6% from the foul line in Maryland on 6.1 attempts per game, in line with this season’s numbers. On the year he is a top 115-140 player in 24 MPG. The efficiency numbers over the last three weeks in 28 mpg slide him back into the top 60-95 range they might also be a little rich on the shooting side.
I think he’s probably playing 30 to 33 mpg the rest of the year and it probably looks like top 50-80 numbers the rest of the way.

Kevin Porter Jr.

PG, Milwaukee Bucks

(2) Porter has easy mid round potential and I think Giannis might slow his roll a little bit this season but even with Giannis around that potential is still there. Ryan Rollins can also do whatever he wants and I believe portable have ample space to do his thing, too. The last report we got was that Porter was on track for an early December return and I think the lack of noise about his return is why he is available in a lot of fantasy leagues right now. He shouldn’t be.

Collin Gillespie

PG, Phoenix Suns

(3) By totals Gillespie is a top 65 player on the season and we’re hearing about drop talk. Bless their souls and be right there to clean that mess up for them. It’s not confusing for the Phoenix Suns and it certainly isn’t confusing for SportsEthos NBA FantasyPass holders who drafted and held when their competition didn’t even know he existed.

Royce O'Neale

PF, Phoenix Suns

(4) O’Neale has been a little bit slow lately but he still a top 100 value on the season, has a clear role and is due for some big games. Even during this 10-game slowdown he is keeping it within the guardrails inside the top 140-150.

Peyton Watson

SF, Denver Nuggets

(9) You will notice that I have Watson lower at number nine on this list than most folks would likely have. And yes, it’s possible he goes offer top 50 numbers for the next four to six weeks. I’m just concerned about relative holes in his stat set with percentages and potential fluctuations in value that make the next stretch look like top 75-100 numbers and in relation to solid top 75-100 value from somebody like Royce O’Neale for an entire season I am opting for slow but steady wins the race here. Over the last four games he has been a fourth round value shooting 63% from the field, 80% from the foul line with big numbers boosted by his breakout game last week – 15 points, 2.3 triples, eight boards, two assists, 1.8 combined defensive stats. At another three games and make that seven games back and you get top 150 value in 30 minutes.

NOW, THE REMAINING FIVE FROM THE TOP TEN AND THE REST OF OUR PICKUPS (Waiver Wire Rank in Parenthesis) 

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• About the Author
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Aaron Bruski

I’m a father, husband and friend. Also, a high stakes fantasy basketball player and I’ve been working in fantasy sports since the turn of the century. Before founding SportsEthos, I spent nearly a decade at Rotoworld building their NBA operation, where we won the FSGA award for Best News and Analysis Site regularly. I cut my teeth in the reporting world at ProBasketballTalk.com on the Kings relocation story, developing sources in Sacramento and throughout the NBA. I’ve won two FSWA Basketball Writer of the Year awards and been nominated four times. I started SportsEthos to help this industry evolve so content producers can have some long-term security and customers can get a better product.

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